Step by step instructions for making a bishop dress

Fabric PreparationPreshrink
the fabric before
cutting by submerging the fabric in a five (5) gal bucket
partially filled with very hot water and a few drops of a mild liquid
laundry soap.

Agitate
the cloth up and down several times to make sure that all of the layers
of cloth are well wetted. Let the fabric soak in the water for about 20
minutes.

Remove
the soapy water. Rinse the fabric thoroughly, remove it from the water
and place it on a clean white towel to air dry.

Pattern
Preparation
Press the paper pattern to remove wrinkles. Use a dry iron to avoid
damaging the pattern paper.

Cutting
the cloth

For
the finished bishop dress to hang correctly, make sure that the fabric
is
straight, with the grainline parallel to the salvage.

To determine where to cut
crossgrain, pull a
crossgrain thread to mark the fabric.

Cut
along the pulled thread line. Fold the fabric lengthwise,
smoothing the fold and aligning the selvages.

The
fabric is 'off grain' if the two (2) layers are not aligned. If the
fabric is off grain, adjust by grasping the fabric at opposite diagonal
corners and
pull gently, making sure to hold and pull in the opposite direction
from the distortion. Check the alignment and repeat until the grains
line up.

With
the right sides of the fabric together aligning the selvages, pin the
patterns to the fabric and cut the back, front and sleeves and
cut the pieces.

Prepare
the Sleeves
Using
pleated threads that are approximatelly two (2) inches longer than the
width of the sleeves, pleat the cuf of the sleeves and flaten
the
pleated edge. Roll and whip the cuff and attach lace if desired. (note:
this picture show the lace installed AFTER many other steps, but now is
the best time to install the lace.)

Join the back, sleeves, and front
of the dressDo
not waste time sewing with cheap, or old dry thread on either
conventional machines or sergers (overlock machines). Old thread may be
weak thread.

Join the
sleeves to the front and back using tiny French seams (1/8”).
Use a
cloth marking pen to transfer the seam allowance, usually
5/8”, on the
right side of the fabric, front and back.

To make the
French seams, stay stitch a 5/8” seam with the wrong sides of
the fabric together.

Press the
seam. Trim the seam so that there is a 1/16” seam allowance.

To trim the
seam(if you are right handed), use your left
hand to hold the seam and your right hand to hold the scissors. Slip
the lower blade of the scissors under the raw edges. With both palms up
and the scissors almost parallel to the seam line, trim close to the
seam line.

Fold the fabric along the seam line with the right
sides of
the fabric together. Sew a new 1/8” seam from the folded seam
edge.
Press the seam.

When
pleating across the French seams, turn the knob of the pleater very
slowly, releasing pressure and removing the pleated cloth from the
pleating
needles often to avoid breaking needles.

Remove
the pleating threads from the back seam allowance. Knot the pleating
threads together at each end to avoid accidently loss of
pleats.

Continuous Placket
In the bishop dress a continuous
placket is used.
Before placing the placket, remove the pleating
threads in the back of the bishop dress from the seam allowance.
Fit the continuous placket to the
bishop dress before joining the bias strip that goes around the
neckline. The placket should be long enough so that the bishop dress
slips easily over the shoulders. The placket in the bishop dress needs
to be approximately 5 ½” long. A firm finish at
the lower
end of the placket is very necessary as this point will sustain the
most stress and wear the greatest. Cut a strip of fabric, twice the
length of the placket plus 1”.

For example for a 5
½” placket, cut a strip of fabric 5 1/2" times 2
plus 1",
equals 12” long and twice the width of the finished facing,
allowing ¼” on each side for the seams. Fold the
placket
strip lengthwise, press and mark the middle point.

At the dress
back opening, place
the right side of the placket strip against the wrong side of the
bishop dress and align the placket strip so that the middle point of
the placket strip coincided with the back French seam.

With the
right side of the bishop
dress on top, stitch the placket strip to the edge of the opening,
starting at the edge of the smocked round yoke and using a very short
stitch.

This seam
starts ¼”
wide and goes to the point where the French seam starts. Pivot the
sewing machine needle at this point, set the sewing machine at a length
of zero and stitch two (2) stitches. Set the machine back to a very
short stitch and finish attaching the placket by turning on the other
side of the opening to finish the seam again at ¼”
wide.

Keep the seam
width ¼” wide on the placket strip while attaching
it to the bishop dress.

Turn the
un-sewed edge of the placket strip onto the right side of the dress.
Press the seam and a ¼” seam allowance.

Fold the
placket over the right side of the dress and stitch-on-the-ditch.

In
preparation for the bias strip
to be sewn around the neck, fold in and stitch in place, around the
neck line, the side of the placket where the buttonholes are going to
be made, leaving the other side straight.

How To Cut The Bias Strip That Goes
Around The Bishop Dress Neckline
With the right side up, spread
and smooth the fabric so that the cross-grain is perpendicular to the
lengthwise grain, which rungs parallel to the selvage.

To
determine the width of the
bias strip, begin with the measurement for the finish binding, add
1”, and double the total.

For example,
for the bishop neckline bias, the finished bias will be
¼” wide, the calculation is as follows:¼”
+ 1” = 1 ¼”, double this total gives 2
1/8”.
Cut a strip of 2 1/8” wide. Avoid having a seam on the bias
strip, particularly on the neckline, by cutting the bias strip for the
neckline in one piece. With wrong sides together fold the bias strip
lengthwise, match the raw edges, and press the folded edge, stretching
the strip slightly.

Remember that
the bias strips
narrow slightly when you press and stretch them. From the folded edge,
measure twice the finished width plus 1/8”, for
¼”
bias, measure 5/8”. With the right side up chalk-mark the
bias
width of 5/8” from the fold. Trim the raw edges. To trim with
a
serger measure and chalk-mark the finished width and run a seam over
the marked line. Remove all of the threads from your serger. Place the
seam under the serger foot so that the seam aligns with the knife.

Always keep
your fingers away
from the serger knife and needles. ALSO, be sure to remove all pins
before they reach the cutting knife!

Check the
relationship of the
seam to the serger foot to establish a sight line. Trim away the
excess. Fold one raw edge in to meet the fold at the center and press.
Repeat to press the other side.

How To
Join The Bias Strip Ends At
The Bishop Dress Opening
Use a body form, a template, or
the pattern to shape the pleated fabric around the neck and shoulders
by separating or gathering the pleats around the neckline and
shoulders.

Avoid the turtle neck effect resulting from a
neckline too short.

To separate
or gather the pleats
use the pleating threads. When determining the size of the neckline,
take into account the width of the placket on the buttons side, as this
side will stay straight and contributes to the length of the bias
strip.

Around the
neckline, trim the
seam allowance to ¼”. Hand baste the bias strip in
place
before stitching to make sure the bias strip fits smoothly and the
neckline is not too tight.

When
close to the bishop dress central back opening, stop hand basting the
bias strip in place. Unfold the bias strip at the end of the opening
and fold the right sides of the bias strip together. Align the folded
edges of the bias strip and stitch a seam in the ends of the bias strip
1/16” from the edge of the bishop dress opening. This little
seam
may be sewn by hand with a short backstitch. Trim the seam allowance to
¼”

Repeat on the
other side of the
bishop dress opening. Turn the bias strip right side out. Clip the seam
allowance making sure not to cut the seam. Fold the raw edges under,
readjust the bias strip, and finish the basting in preparation for
ditch-stitching. Hand baste the bias strip before ditch-stitching to
prevent the under layers from shifting when they are stitched. When
ditch-stitching use the zipper foot and, with the sewing machine needle
to the right side, use a very short stitch.

Smocking The Round Yoke
Starting at the center of the
front of the bishop dress stitch the selected smocking design. When
smocking the yoke, remember that the turtleneck effect may be caused by
tension when smock stitching too tight. When smocking around the round
yoke, gradually, change the tension of the stitching as smocking each
row away from the neckline so that the last row of the yoke is fairly
loose to allow the bottom row to spread out nicely when the yoke is
finished. Smock the cuffs also. Remove all the pleating threads. This
is
specially important when doing any enhancement of the smocking
area such as stitching bullion knots roses.

Side French Seams
With wrong side together, pin
stitch the raw side edges of the bishop dress. Run a stay-stitch seam
along the seam line. Press the seam. To trim the seam, use your left
hand to hold the seam and your right hand to hold the scissors. Slip
the lower blade of the scissors under the raw edges. With both palms up
and the scissors almost parallel to the bishop dress seam line, trim
close to the stay-stitching. Turn the bishop dress to the wrong side.
Pin stitch along the seam and stay stitch. Press the seam.

Do not iron the smocked areas!

Buttonholes
The bishop dress has four (4)
buttonholes, two (2) buttonholes on the smocked round yoke and two (2)
in the back skirt. The two (2) buttonholes on the smocked round yoke
are aligned with the neckline. The two (2) buttonholes on the skirt are
parallel to the placket. The buttonholes are for 7/16”
buttons.

To cut the buttonholes without clipping the stitches, carefully
position one (1) straight pin on each end of the buttonhole and use
scissor with very sharp points. Position one of the scissor points
exactly
where you want the button hole to begin, and close the scissors. Open
them and work the point into the opening by repeatedly closing and
opening. Once through all the layers of cloth, use the scissors
carefully to cut along the button hole. Be sure to NOT cut too far.
Test with a button to make sure it fits through the button hole.

Buttons
Use a hand-sewing needle and
double strand of thread. Insert a pin between
the thread and button to form a shank so that the button is not
attached to the bishop dress too tightly. Sew four (4)
7/16” buttons neatly to the
placket, hiding the thread knots under the button.

HemUse an erasable marking pen to
mark the hem line of the bishop dress. Check the hem line to make sure
it is straight. With the wrong side of the bishop dress up, fold up and
press the hem. Press a ¼” from the raw edge of
the
bishop
dress. With the right side of the bishop dress up, stay stitch this
seam. Finish the hem by hand.

Made-to-order custom made dresses

If you like our dresses and have something particular in mind, a
different color, a different size or a special request, we will be
pleased to make a hand smocked dress for you for our normal price plus
any additional fully discussed costs for specialty fabrics or yarns
required.

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